


When The Evening's Thin

by Morning_Glory



Series: With An Edge And A Charm [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, I Blame Tumblr, M/M, Multi, Sexual Tension, Undercover Missions, Writing on Skin, boys in makeup, enablers made me do it, hitting all the hot buttons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:03:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4700147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morning_Glory/pseuds/Morning_Glory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She leans over the sink, staring at her reflection in the mirror and willing herself to remain calm. It's just the mission that has the guys acting so weird, nothing else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When The Evening's Thin

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aenaria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aenaria/gifts), [JadeCharmer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeCharmer/gifts), [Merideath](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merideath/gifts).



> Once upon a time [jadecharmer](http://jadecharmer.tumblr.com/) and [aenariasbookshelf](http://aenariasbookshelf.tumblr.com/) had a discussion about Bucky in eyeliner and I felt the need to art it. Then [typhoidmeri](http://typhoidmeri.tumblr.com/) added a comment about drawing tattoos on Steve and more art happened. When I looked at things a little closer, it fit with another wip i had going on and oops I accidentally a 'verse. Horrible enablers, every one. The blame for this mayhem is mostly on them.

“Dammit, Bucky, would you hold still?” Darcy huffs, clenching her fingers around the eyeliner pencil. “I thought snipers were trained not to wriggle around like excited puppies.”

“You did not just compare me to a puppy.” Bucky's voice is flat, but the slight crinkles at the corners of his eyes give him away. It's a good thing he finds it amusing that Darcy isn’t afraid to tease him because it's a fairly common occurrence. He just makes it so easy sometimes.

She aims the most unimpressed look she can manage at him, which unfortunately isn’t much at the moment-- not with Bucky sitting in front of her shirtless and giving her that lazy, confident smirk with an ease just this side of debauched. Pushing that train of thought away quickly, she decides it’s just more efficient to prove her point. Reaching out with her left hand, Darcy tangles her fingers in Bucky’s hair, curling them just behind his ear and dragging her nails lightly against his scalp. His eyes close as he gives a visible shiver and leans into the touch.

“Totally a puppy,” Darcy teases triumphantly and Bucky opens his eyes slowly, like he's trying to savor the sensations for as long as he can. “Now stop squirming."

“For the record, snipers don't usually have people trying to poke things in our eyes.” And he can try to deny it all he wants, but he’s totally pouting, and it’s adorable.

“I'm not gonna poke you in the eye," Darcy sighs, flicking him lightly on the head with the pencil as he squirms again. It's distracting to feel his every movement brush against her bare legs as she stands between his knees to work. "Unless you keep moving around. Dammit Bucky, cut it out or I'm gonna get Steve to hold you down."

Bucky's grin is all the warning she needs to know it was the wrong thing to say.

"The way I remember it that didn't end so well for you last time." Darcy takes a calming breath to resist the urge to write something inappropriate on his forehead. She loves him, really she does, but sometimes he's such a brat.

"We agreed never to speak of that again." Bucky just keeps smiling and gets another flick with the pencil for it. Darcy calls him an ass and grabs his chin to tip his head back. This time he keeps his head still so she can work. It doesn't mean he stays quiet though.

“I _can_ do this myself, you know.”

“Oh, honey, no,” Darcy shakes her head and pats his cheek, mostly to annoy him. “I’ve seen the disasters when you try to do this for yourself. Trust me, you need all the help you can get.”

“That was _warpaint_ , Darce. Not eyeliner.” Bucky sighs and now even he can’t claim it’s not a pout-- the bottom lip is out and everything. She’s lost track of how many times they’ve had this conversation, but she will never _not_ find it funny.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night. Now hush,” Darcy scolds gently, using her grip on his chin to tilt his head to check her evenness. “Or I’m going for the lipstick next.”

And if there is one benefit of having faced him down when he was in actual Winter Soldier headspace, it’s that even the most epic stinkeye from Bucky just isn’t as terrifying as it used to be. The look he’s giving her now, still more amused than anything, barely even registers.

“Well, his mouth _is_ pretty enough to pull it off,” Steve interrupts from the bathroom doorway before Bucky can make another comment and Darcy cackles as she watches the pink flush rise in Bucky’s cheeks. Steve is definitely not wrong about that.

“Don’t be a pain in the ass, Steve. Remember, you’re next,” she’s only _mostly_ teasing. It's dangerous to give him too much leeway on that kind of comment now. He's been testing boundaries recently, and they don't have time for that kind of distraction at the moment.

“Yeah, _Stevie_. Don't be a pain in the ass," Bucky mimics her with a smirk. Darcy doesn’t see what Steve does in response, but it makes Bucky laugh. She sighs, wondering for the millionth time why she let them talk her into this.

"Will you behave so I can get this done, please?" it's pure exasperation, but it nets the desired result. Bucky settles down, his face a mask of innocent calm that she doesn't buy for a second. She mutters to herself about what menaces they both are, knowing that they both hear every word, and gets back to work, tuning out the sounds of Steve moving around the room behind her.

Once she’s finished, Darcy leans back to survey her work and has to take a deep breath to keep from moaning at the sight. It’s ridiculous how good this look is for Bucky. She feels her focus wavering and gives herself an internal shake.

“So not fair,” it comes out not quite under her breath and completely without her permission. Both men jump on the slip with an unusual amount of concern-- a sign of their own pre-mission nerves. It's her first time doing anything like this so they’re all a little tense, even if they are doing a good job of mostly hiding it. Darcy tries to pass it off as a joke and hopes they will just play along. “How is it possible that you’re prettier in makeup than I am?”

"Not a chance, Doll." Bucky smirks as he puts his hands on her hips and shakes her playfully until she swats at him. Without letting go, he stares up at her through his eyelashes with a heat that leaves her flustered. Darcy recognizes that look. While that day in the kitchen wasn’t the first time he’d done it, it _had_ been the start of something different. It's become even more frequent since Steve's visit to the lab a few weeks after that. She tries not to think about that look and what it means-- at least not when there are other people around.

It takes a few seconds to register his hand sliding up, callused fingers dragging across her bare arm and behind her neck. Bucky doesn't pull at her, just strokes lightly along her spine with the barest hint of pressure as he tilts his head up. She feels his breath against her lips before she even realizes she's leaned into him, and any thought of why they shouldn’t be doing this is lost as his lips finally touch hers.

She tastes the faint traces of the cigarettes he smokes on missions that he thinks she doesn't know about underneath the flavor of the coffee he was just drinking and the cinnamon gum he prefers. Everything about it is just so undeniably  _him_.

It's a first for them, despite all the years and closeness, and in all the times she's thought about this-imagined, fantasized, all so inappropriate because they're _just friends dammit_ -she had never expected it to be like this-- slow and careful, sweeter than any other kiss she can remember.  This is a line they haven't crossed before, not even when he'd had her pinned against the fridge. Even after she learned what he felt like in one of the most intimate ways and the mask came off, this wasn't something she thought would ever happen, but _oh hell_ does it live up to the hype. For all the reasons this is a bad idea, there’s a part of her that never wants it to end.

His low murmur of encouragement only eggs her on more and she doesn't resist when he pulls her closer and takes things further. Darcy tangles her fingers in his hair again and the drag of her nails across his scalp earns her a whimper-growl that she can’t help but smile at.

Steve pointedly clears his throat nearby and Darcy startles, clenching her eyes shut as she finally remembers exactly why she shouldn’t be kissing Bucky. She squirms against the careful squeeze of Bucky’s hands-an attempt to be reassuring she’d guess-and he lets go easily. After taking a moment to steady her nerves, Darcy opens her eyes to just catch the tail end of Bucky frowning at Steve over her shoulder. The look disappears as soon as he realizes she’s looking and he turns his attention back to her with an easy smile and something soft in his eyes. Tension starts to build in her shoulders as they watch each other, but Steve steps in to break the moment again.

“’S a good color on ya, Buck.” It’s mostly teasing, but there’s a hint of something else there that zings pleasantly up Darcy’s spine. It takes longer than it should for her to notice her deep red lipstick smeared on Bucky’s lips. All she can do is stare for a long second and take it in before she forces out a laugh, reaching out to wipe away the smudges carefully with her thumb.

Deliberately ignoring the heated way Bucky looks at her, she steps back to give him enough room to stand up and get around her without touching. She orders him out of the way so she can get to work on Steve and curses inwardly as he responds with another slow grin. He doesn’t even try to avoid brushing against her as he passes.

“Okay, Pain, take your shirt off and get on the bed,” It takes more effort to do it than she’d like, but she shifts her focus to Steve. The few seconds of silence is finally broken by the sounds of Bucky cackling across the room, and Darcy realizes what she just said.

A glance at Steve shows a grin forming-- that same completely unfair, and more than a little filthy, grin that always makes her pulse race. She points at him, forcing a stern look. “You keep your damn mouth shut.”

Steve holds up his hands in mock surrender, putting on his best innocent face as he shakes his head and denies any idea of doing otherwise. As Darcy rolls her eyes, his expression shifts, eyes turning sad as his bottom lip pokes out, just a little. His fake pout is even more lethal than Bucky’s, and she's a sucker for it more often than she’s comfortable admitting.

“I don’t get a kiss?” Even though she knows she's being played, Darcy feels the heat in her face and knows she must be turning very red. Before she can overthink it, she steps in close enough to grab the front of his t-shirt and drags him down to her. She knows he lets her, there’s no way she’d really be able to move him unless he allows it, but it still always gives her a thrill that he trusts her enough to let her manhandle him whenever she likes. Their lips meet briefly, just a quick peck before she pulls back-- or tries to. Before she can get too far, one of his hands curves around the back of her neck, and draws her back in.

Her surprised gasp gives him just enough of an opportunity to lick into her mouth, drawing her into a slow, surprisingly filthy kiss. It takes a few seconds to realize the low whimper came from her, but she can’t bring herself to make him stop. She’d imagined many times what it would be like to kiss Steve, but it had never come anything close to this reality.

As Steve’s free hand starts to drift dangerously, Bucky clears his throat across the room, loud enough to get their attention. Darcy pulls away with a muffled curse-- she’d actually forgotten he was there for a minute. The looks he’s been giving her all day flash through her mind when he sounds like he genuinely regrets the interruption as he points out that they’re on a tight schedule. She forces herself to push that aside-- it’s not the right time for that.

“We can continue this, uh, _conversation_ later,” Darcy feels the shivers climbing up her spine at the promise in Bucky’s voice, and tries to convince herself that it’s all for the mission-- just the boys getting into character, that’s all.

When she looks up at him, Steve smiles at her more gently than she would have expected given the way he just had his tongue in her mouth and his hand on her ass. He gives a wink before he turns away, finally doing as she originally requested and tugging his shirt off over his head. Some playful cursing is aimed in Bucky’s direction when he wolf-whistles at the sight as Steve sprawls face down on the bed so Darcy can finish adding the last of the tattoos to his back.

Darcy knows she's staring, but can’t seem to make herself stop. She needs a moment to settle because, _damn,_ what the hell was that even? She can feel Bucky’s eyes on her from across the room, but refuses to look over at him. He was right when he said they don’t have a lot of time, so she focuses on calming her breathing back to normal. The freak out over this can wait until later. She needs to work now.

Drawing on every trick she's learned about compartmentalizing, Darcy pushes everything else aside as she grabs the box of supplies so she can start. She crawls up onto the bed and swings a leg over so she's sitting on the back of Steve’s thighs, giving her the best unhindered access to his back. Bad, bad thoughts nearly overwhelm as she comes to grips with the way Steve is spread out beneath her. It takes a lot of effort to ignore the way he shifts against her and even more to resist the urge to lick a line up his spine, but she perseveres.

Picking up the first of the pens Tony provided for them, Darcy gets to work, deftly applying ink and specially designed decals until the patchwork completely covers his back, blending seamlessly from the custom sleeves on his arms to the ones wrapping around the sides of his torso and disappearing beneath the waistband of his shorts.

It doesn’t take as long as she expects before she’s sitting back with a huff, stretching the tension out of her spine after hunching over to work. Looking over her finished product, Darcy can't help the slightly vicious grin as she considers her next move-- they've definitely earned a little payback with their behavior so far tonight. The groundwork was laid when she worked on Bucky's throat earlier, setting up for just this eventuality. She leans over again, inking the ogham marks along the length of Steve's spine and feeling the muscle twitches as he fights to keep still beneath her. She doesn't register the sounds of movement until Bucky's shadow falls over them and he gives a curious hum.

"What does it mean?"

"Oh, no," Darcy shakes her head, grinning up at him. "A girl's gotta have some secrets."

With a final look at her handiwork, Darcy gets up, swatting Steve playfully on the ass before skirting around Bucky to finish getting ready in the bathroom. She hears Steve questioning what she's done, but can't hear Bucky's reply over her own laughter.

Once the door is locked behind her, Darcy drops all the pretense. She leans over the sink, staring at her reflection in the mirror and willing herself to remain calm. It's just the mission that has the guys acting so weird, nothing else. As the memory of the look in Bucky's eyes when he pinned her to the fridge sneaks up on her again, the same look he'd just given her, she knows she's lying to herself.

Something has been different between the three of them since that morning. It’s not enough to make things weird, just a shift in the way they look at her sometimes. It’s in the way they touch her too, which has always skewed overly familiar anyway. Darcy's never minded, chalking it up to them both being starved for positive contact and her wanting to be there for them as much as possible, but she’s finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the part of her that recognizes it was never quite that innocent on her part. It's all too much to process right now, and Darcy reminds herself again that it's all for the mission and she's just overreacting.

Touching up her own makeup, she tries not to think too hard about how it got smudged in the first place. They were just a couple of kisses with a couple of close friends, caught up in the moment, that's all. Steve hadn't really expected her to do it-- to answer his teasing like that. And Bucky, well, of course he was just trying to fluster her a little-- ease her tension over being out on a mission with them for the first time.

With a shake of her head to clear her thoughts, Darcy strips down to deal with her lingerie and sits on the rim of the tub to fight with her stockings. After a few minutes of struggling with the clips, Darcy buries her face in her hands to muffle her cry of frustration. It’s only a few seconds later that there is a tap on the door and Bucky asks if she's okay. Of course they heard her-- damn super soldiers.

She sighs when he asks if it's safe to come in and reaches over to unlock the door before he resorts to picking the lock. She's more worried that he'll take one look at how flustered she is and have second thoughts about her coming with them than about him seeing her dressed like this. They’ve both seen her in less before, though almost always by accident. Their boundaries have never had the clearest lines and the amount of time spent in each other's apartments could probably be considered living together-- not to mention that ill-advised camping trip where they’d convinced her that skinny dipping at 3 am was a good idea and she’d ended up with hypothermia.

Silence meets her as the door cracks open and Bucky pokes his head in, but only for a few seconds before it's broken by his cursing and sounds of awed appreciation. She stares at the floor until he crouches down in front of her.

"What's wrong, Doll?" he keeps his voice low, offering what little semblance of privacy he can. She appreciates the effort, even if it is only for show, but she can't bring herself to meet his eyes. Instead, she holds her hand up between them to show him just how much it's shaking as she jokes that she's losing the battle with her garters. It’s less surprising that he offers to help than it is how gently he offers it-- she expected at least some teasing. There is a sudden spike of worry as she wonders just how much of the real reason behind her freak out Bucky has figured out, or if he still thinks it's just pre-mission nerves getting to her. She tries to bury the feeling as he gives her hand a squeeze and helps Darcy to her feet.

Bucky leads her back out into the bedroom-- to give him more space to work he explains as he gets her settled on the bench at the foot of the bed. She’s not entirely sure she believes that, but goes along with it for now. She bites the inside of her lip as Bucky drops to his knees in front of her, but her eyes are drawn to Steve as he moves closer.

It’s a struggle to keep from commenting as she sees the evidence of what they got up to while she was out of the room. Bucky has finished Steve’s makeup while she was off having her private freak out, and it’s a damn good look on him. Between the tattoos, makeup, and the little bit of scruff he hasn’t shaved off, Steve is almost unrecognizable from his usual Captain persona.

For all the teasing she gives him, Bucky has a good eye and a steady hand. It's tempting to tell him he's responsible for her makeup from now on, but it's not worth losing the subject to tease him about.

Unlike Bucky, Steve hasn't made a peep in his appreciation of her outfit-- or lack of it, as the case may be. His expression says more than enough though. Darcy bites the inside of her cheek hard enough that she tastes blood as he comes over, taking the other stocking from her slack hand as he joins Bucky in kneeling at her feet. As they exchange conspiratorial grins, Darcy almost loses it-- she's had too many fantasies that started this way, and this is so not the time for those thoughts.

She wavers, clenching her fists in the cushion at the feel of Bucky's hands sliding up her leg and tugging everything into place with an unnecessary amount of concentration. Steve lifts her other foot to rest on his thigh as he rolls the fabric past her ankle and up her calf, fingers and palms lingering longer than necessary to smooth it out before moving over her knee and higher. Darcy unsuccessfully tries to hide a shiver at the slow drag of his callused fingers along her thighs and Bucky smirks up at her as Steve seems focused entirely too intently on the way his hands look against her skin.

It's all just about the mission, Darcy lies to herself again, and it's time to shut this down before it goes too far. She finds her calm again and teases them about being too good at doing this, a flimsy attempt to distract them all. She squawks at the snap of elastic against her thigh and glares down at Steve, who just grins back.

"You can't possibly think this is my first time doing this," he drags his fingertips teasingly light along the edge of the strap, but his eyes are far more serious than his tone. He looks at her the way Bucky does, in that way she tries so hard not to think about. She shakes her head, internally repeating the mantra that they're just friends and to focus on the mission.

"Wear them a lot, do you?" Steve narrows his eyes at her for it. Before he can get a word out, Bucky cracks a joke about his old stage costume-- the one with the tights. Darcy cackles as the tips of Steve’s ears turn red, and forces herself not to linger on either mental image for too long. She needs another distraction and it’s just too good an opportunity to pass up. “Wait, oh my god, are you gonna wear your own set tonight?”

And Steve’s actually full out blushes this time, but it doesn’t distract him nearly enough. Darcy recognizes that look-- the one that means she’s in trouble and he’s about to retaliate.

She drags herself away from him, scrambling back onto the bed and rolling off the far side. As she stands, she makes sure to keep Bucky between them-- not that she thinks he’ll actually protect her from this. He’s looking far too amused by the whole thing as he teases that she’s in trouble. Darcy mutters unflattering comments at him under her breath as she shifts on her toes, ready to bolt at the first sign of approach.

There’s something almost predatory in the way Steve moves, never taking his eyes off her as he gets to his feet. She can’t look away, and it occurs to her that his behavior is eerily similar to Bucky’s was _t_ _hat_ morning, not only after he’d recovered and she’d made her offer, but with shades of the Winter Soldier as well.

Darcy cuts that thought off with extreme prejudice.

“Don’t even think about it, Pain,” she forces the words out. Part of her wants to laugh and play along, to see what Steve would come up with as revenge. It’s tempting, and definitely what she would have done _Before_. She risks a glance at the clock, and even that brief moment of distraction has Steve shifting closer. She backs up another step, hands coming up as she calls for a timeout. They don’t have time for these kinds of games right now. They have a mission to complete tonight. Darcy tries not to audibly sigh her relief when they both sober instantly at her reminder.

She's not sure she's willing to tackle this thing between them at all, never mind when Bucky is the only one of them actually wearing pants. The personal drama will have to wait.

Reassured that things are back on track again, Darcy ignores the stares as she crosses to the closet to grab her clothes. This time she doesn’t bother to leave the room to change-- it’s not like she hasn’t already given them an eyeful.

It’s almost like putting on armor, each piece of the outfit slipping into place. The front of the black skirt hangs just low enough to cover the tops of her stockings if she stands still, while the back tickles against her calves. She takes a deep breath before cinching the corset top just a little tighter, then starts in on the jewelry-- cuffs of soft leather, silver rings, and multiple fake piercings. She saves the tongue stud for last. Like a ritual, the movements come, and the rhythm of it settles her mind. She can do this.

She doesn’t startle as Bucky comes up behind her with the necklace. Like the pens and Bucky’s sleeve, it’s been specially designed for this mission, with the thread-thin components woven through it and the camera hiding in the central stone. They each have one-- a matching set to go with all the other secret tech. If everything works as intended, all of their new toys should allow them to pass through security with an entire arsenal hidden and undetectable on them. She’d joked about it being overkill during the briefing, but it settles her nerves to know it’s all there if they need it. Despite this being sold to her as a relatively safe mission, she is painfully aware of how often their “easy” assignments turn into disasters.

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Darcy barely recognizes herself. This isn't the intern looking back, but something a shade closer to who she’d been a long time ago, well before Culver. That hint of familiarity grounds her just enough to finally feel ready for this.

Looking over her shoulder at the guys, Darcy knows if she wasn’t already aware of it, she would never guess their identities. She feels a rush of pride that she did a good job for her part of it. The last step is slipping into her footwear for the night-- knee high leather boots with a disguised steel toe and blade hidden in the heel, built to do some damage if necessary. Once laced up and given a final thumbs up on the outfit, Steve holds out her jacket and she lets him help her put it on. Bucky grabs the keys and with a last check that they have everything they need, they’re out the door and on their way.

It's time to cause some trouble.

 


End file.
